Speaking at the 38th Pre-Convocation Lecture of the Ahmadu Bello University Zaria on Friday, President of the Group Alhaji Aliko Dangote said the Dangote Cement has production operations in eight African countries including Nigeria, with investments at various stages in another ten countries.
“In Nigeria we have three cement plants with a combined installed capacity of 29.25 million MT per annum. The Obajana Cement Plant in Kogi state is the largest cement plant in the world with a current capacity of 13.25 million MT.
“The Ibese cement plant in Ogun State has combined installed capacity of 12 million MT while the Gboko plant has installed capacity of 4 million MT,” he said.
The theme of his speech was: The role of entrepreneurship in national development: The story of the Dangote Group.
He said: “In 2015, six new plants commenced full operations (Tanzania, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Senegal, South Africa and Zambia) while 12 MOUs for a total contract sum of over $4 Billion were signed.”
Mr. Dangote said: “We are currently building a new 6 million MT plant in Itori, Ogun State among several other new projects, and by the time we complete all our existing Africa projects in 2017 we will have a total installed capacity of 80 million MT.”
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He said he was honoured to have been chosen to deliver the 38th Pre-Convocation Lecture of this great citadel of academic excellence, Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, named after one of Nigeria’s revered patriots, the Sardauna of Sokoto and former Premier of the defunct Northern Region, Alhaji Sir Ahmadu Bello.
He said entrepreneurship is the leading vehicle of job creation and economic growth all over the world. As such, countries pay special attention to the needs of entrepreneurs by creating strong infrastructural frameworks, conducive policy and regulatory environments, and strong legal protections.
According to him, some of the identified major causes of unemployment in Nigeria include inadequate infrastructure (particularly epileptic power supply), lack of access to finance, shortage of technical skills and difficult regulatory environment.
He said the Group was currently working on other huge investments that include rice and sugar production, as well as a petroleum refinery projects, and electricity power plant.
He therefore called on institutions like ABU to move out of their comfort of their traditional environment and work more actively with institutions, groups and individuals.
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